Fortissimo!
by another.creative.lover
Summary: /LenKaho/ Len is back to get some volunteer hours for his crazy professor, but what he doesn't expect is that Seiso Academy's changed big time. Even the redhead he thought about changed. A story of change: whether it's right or wrong and how to cope.
1. Pianissimo

**Fortissimo**

**By annee loves sasusaku**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own La Corda d'Oro or the lyrics used.

**Author's note:** Yup. Another story. The plot bunnies are so evil, gnawing on my brain like this. ^_^ Right now, it's a little rough around the edges, but I think I got something going. This fanfic will follow the manga version, so if you haven't read the manga, please, oh _please_—read it. Now. Everyone here adores LenKaho, right? Then you're in the right place. Please enjoy. :D

**Full summary:** Len, after a year of studying abroad in Germany, has to return to his old high school music academy in order to gain more volunteer hours teaching younger students in order to return to his studies under his German professor—because volunteer hours just _happen_ to matter so much. When he returns, however, he finds everything he's ever known _gone_—classical music academy turns into a school for modern music. Even the red-haired girl he loved seems to have changed… This will test his integrity, his life's philosophy, and his decisions. A story of music, love, and the overall universal question of whether or not it's right to change. /LenKaho/

**Chapter 1**

**Pianissimo**

**.vvv.**

A blue-haired young man sat back in his plane seat, staring up into the carry-on cabins above as if he were trying to see his blue violin case right through the cabin walls with those golden eyes of his. Tsukimori wanted to sigh. No, correction: he wanted to _yell_, to freaking _scream_ at his teacher for sending him back. Only that insane, senile old man would believe that a genius violinist as himself, someone who had spent fucking _years_ perfecting the sound, would need more community service hours.

He had never felt so angry in his entire life. A vein almost seemed to pop on his forehead. Reluctantly, he let out a sigh and looked out the airplane window, admiring all of Japan's beautiful morning features. A small smile tugged at his lips as an ounce of nostalgia took over a part of his heart. In about fifteen minutes after this airplane landed, he'd be off and heading toward his old high school. Well, technically a music academy, but you get the point. '_Seiso Academy…_'

The school that was split into two different branches: one with students of general education, and the other where he came from, the music branch where all a music student's life revolved around was, well—_music_. Music theory, music history, and of course, playing it all day long. It was the life that he adopted, the life that his mother, the famous pianist Hamai Misa, and his father, a man who ran a music industry, followed. Hell, he'd even bet that in the cave man days, his ancestors had picked up some kind of stick and beat another cave man to death just to get a good sound.

But that wasn't what was on Tsukimori's mind when he thought about his old academy. Oh, no. His parents could've been the last thing on his mind. All he could think about when he thought about his old music academy was a certain red-haired girl who always seemed to smile at him, close her eyes at his music, and make wonderful tunes with her own violin. '_Kahoko…_' Of course, that was the name that he solely wished he would be able to call her by. Every time he saw her, though, it was always, "Hino" or, if he decided he felt a little more formal than usual, "Hino-san." He still remembered what she told him before he left her on that sidewalk and went back to his taxi and flew to Vienna: "_Tsukimori-kun! I'll… I'll work really hard!_" A smile tugged at his lips. That girl… she always tried her hardest. '_I wonder if she still remembers me…_'

Of course, it would be hard to forget someone who kept reappearing on television for the past year since his debut to the music world. It was already two years… she was supposed to be a first-year in university already, right? He wondered if she had decided to become a music major and head off to Seiso's joint university and smiled at the thought. '_She loves music… of course she would._'

The pilot's voice blasted over the speakers in loud Japanese. "Alright, my fellow passengers, this is your pilot speaking. I hope that you all have had a wonderful flight; please fly on Japan Airlines another time, and thank you all for coming." _Click!_

The blue-haired man sat there and stared as the other passengers grabbed their carry-ons and made their way to the plane's opening. He _really_ didn't want to join the crowd—too many people plus a socially awkward violinist, and what would you get? A claustrophobia attack. Which was exactly why he was going to wait until _after_ the majority of the other passengers had got off.

"Aye, buddy! You gettin' off, or what? We don't got all day, y'know!"

Or not…

Tsukimori turned to stare coldly at the other passenger, keeping his gaze as he took his blue violin case from the top cabin. He tried to keep from smirking when he saw a strand of fearful respect on the other man's face. "Excuse me, sir," Tsukimori managed coolly, "I didn't notice that I was keeping up a line."

The other man put his hands up, his eyes wide and a sweat already starting to bead on his forehead. "N-No! I-I should be the one who's sorry! Oh, please forgive me, Tsukimori-san."

Ah, the quirks of being famous. With a simple nod, Tsukimori made his way past the crowd and went on his way to find his luggage—then all he had to do afterward was _wait_. And waiting, to this blue-haired young man, was like a punishment close to death. Catching his suitcase, he went through the passport check-out lines and, once passed, went on through the airport terminals to find a certain raven-haired man waiting for him, holding up a sign that held his surname.

He nodded. "Kira-san," he said respectfully when he had managed to roll his suitcase up to where the older man stood.

"Tsukimori," returned the superintendent of Seiso. "Glad to have you back."

Another smirk tugged at his lips, making him almost want to go right out and say, "Of course you're glad." But, of course, Tsukimori Len, with his beautiful composure and stoic face, would _never, ever, ever_ do something as arrogant and stupid as that.

Did someone else happen to hear Tsuchiura laugh?

As the two of them sauntered over to the elongated car at the front of the terminal—ignoring eager stares from available, desperate ladies, of course—Kira spoke to the prodigal violinist of his circumstances. "Seiso Academy has been awaiting your return, Tsukimori. There are many, ah, _eager_ young faces that wish to meet the violin virtuoso."

"Is that so?" he returned, keeping his golden eyes firm on the raven-haired superintendent.

Kira shifted his legs. "Of course. However…" A pause punctuated the middle of his sentence. "…there has been a slight change while you were gone."

Tsukimori's thoughts immediately shifted to Hino. "A slight change?"

The superintendent pushed down a smirk before he shifted his gaze to the window. "The flowers are blooming quite nicely this year." Total, obvious, elusion.

"What slight change, Kira?" Tsukimori pushed once more, his golden eyes piercing the superintendent's head.

The blue-haired man, however, didn't have to wait that long in order to find out. The moment that he restated his words, the limo came to a smooth stop in front of Seiso Academy's gates, and the driver, already out and at the door, opened it for the men inside. "We've arrived, sirs," spoke the driver, as he took Tsukimori's luggage and set it in front of the gates, giving orders to other men around him to carry the rest. He bowed deeply to the blue-haired man in front of him. "Your room is already set, sir. We do hope that you enjoy your stay." With a nod from Kira, he walked briskly to his limousine and headed off.

Kira headed Tsukimori with his auburn eyes. "Well, then, Tsukimori—I hope you enjoy your stay here. Your first, ah, _volunteering session_ should be tomorrow with the new stringed instrument students in the elementary section. However," paused the superintendent as he pointed to the blue violin case by Tsukimori's leg, "you won't be needing _that_." Before Tsukimori could question him, the superintendent headed off to his office.

**.vvv.**

The moment that Kira had gotten into his office, he had already felt that wave of laughter wash over him, barely managing to hold the chuckles in as he leaned against his door. "Oh, Tsukimori," he chuckled, "What terrible timing you have."

"_Akihiko Kira, how could you?_"

Bright, florescent sparkles burst from midair. In their place, a small elfish being stood (floated?), his eyes shining bright blue and hair tuffed golden curls.

Kira simply stared. "How could I what, Lili?" he asked as he ruffled his black curls.

The blond haired fairy shook his wand in rage. "_How could you do such a thing to him? You should have never—_"

"I wasn't the one who sent him back for volunteer hours," bilked the superintendent.

"_But you were the one who told his—_"

Kira waved his hand, scattering the pixie dust away from the air around him. "Enough, Lili; I don't need to hear anything from you. I changed the school as I saw fit, and Tsukimori came back at the wrong time." A smirk slithered across his face. "I'm just wondering what he'll do when he finds out about _her_." He turned away and looked out of the window, watching as Tsukimori walked behind the men with his luggage. "Tsukimori won't do anything to change how Seiso Academy is. That's not in his character." Kira looked over his shoulder toward the fairy. "Now go. I don't want to see you."

Lili sighed—brought down his wand. Before he left, he stared sadly at the back of the raven-haired man's head and murmured, "I cannot believe that you're related to the man who saved me…" Then, he disappeared in a puff of golden dust, leaving Kira to stare out the window and pretend as if he didn't hear a word that Lili said.

**.vvv.**

Tsukimori hurried to the performance rooms after all of his things had been settled in, eager (well, eager enough for a Tsukimori Len, anyway) to perform his new song.

It was already school hours, and the halls were empty, devoid of any student footsteps or life. He remembered the steps of the music branch of school so clearly, remembered walking down the hall with his blue violin case in hand (as he did now) and ignoring the fervent looks from the (currently non-existent) high school girls in the hall. He remembered when he saw Hino for the first time, standing in the way of the door to his classroom with an armful of supplies and an annoying Tsuchiura; remembered feeling a twinge of anticipation when he walked into the performance rooms and hoping that she was here to listen on him like how she did the first time accidentally.

Just as he was about to walk in to the same performance room that he had always gone into, he heard a piano accompaniment and someone singing… not opera, not vocalizing, but actual singing. _Modern _singing.

_**Everything I can't be is everything you should be**_

_**And that's why I need you here**_

_**Everything I can't be is everything you should be**_

_**And that's why I need you here**_

_**So hear this now…**_

There was a short coughing before it resumed.

_**Come home, come home**_

'_**Cause I've been waiting for you, for so long, for so long**_

_**And right now there's a war between the vanities**_

_**But all I see is you and me**_

_**The fight for you is all I've ever known**_

_**So come home...**_

Tsukimori didn't realize that he was now pressed against the door, unable to move. There was something so familiar in that voice…. He strained his ear to try and hear anything else.

Someone coughed from the other side of the door. A voice said, "Don't strain yourself. It's bad for your voice if you do."

'_Tsuchiura?_' thought Tsukimori, recognizing the green-haired man's voice. '_If he's in there, then_—'

"I'm sorry, Tsuchiura-kun," responded another voice from within before it coughed again. It… no, definitely a she. A red-haired _she_. "Don't worry, I'm not straining myself." She laughed. "Thank you so much for putting up with me though, Tsuchiura-kun."

Tsukimori's heart thumped in his chest as he slowly pushed his ear away from the door, willing for himself to not hear anymore in order to keep from getting caught. '_That has to be her… but…_' The blue-haired man walked into an empty room right next to the room he had been eavesdropping from. '…_but why is Hino _singing_?_'

Yes. Exactly—why _was_ she singing? Normally, a music student would only specialize in one area and stick to it. That was why it was called _specializing_. But now, hearing her sing—and sing a modern, non-opera song, no less—made him more than a little uneasy. He shook off his paranoia and adjusted the violin's shoulder rest. "No," he murmured to himself as he tuned his violin. "Kira probably just added a class… a singing class. That can't be Hino…"

If only he had turned around the moment he had said that so that he could finally see the red-haired girl who was on his mind.

**.vvv.**

Hino had to sigh. It had already been two years since Tsukimori had left for Vienna, two years since she had seen his face up close and in person and _not_ on television where all the other girls in her class were swooning over him. She bit her lip. The way that Seiso Academy had changed wasn't going to help her get better; it wasn't going to help her up to the virtuoso violinist position that Tsukimori held or help her see him again, talk to him again. He was getting so much better, and she was getting so much _worse_. "I hope that he's doing okay," she murmured, unaware of the green-haired man's stare.

"Thinking about him again, Hino?" Tsuchiura asked, a little disappointed that she was still thinking of that blue-haired bastard. He swerved away from an anxious first-year as the younger student dashed down the crowded hall.

She gave a sad smile and nodded. "Yeah… I'm so disappointed at myself. Tsukimori's gotten so much better, and I've gotten"—she gestured to her entire being—"like _this_." She turned to look at Tsuchiura. "I'm not even practicing the violin anymore like I want to, Tsuchiura-kun."

The green-haired man stopped her in the hall with a comforting hand to her shoulder and a tender smile on his lips that he only held for her. "It'll all be okay, Hino." He didn't know if it would be though, but he sincerely hoped that his words carried some sort of truth in them.

And soon, they would.

**.vvv.**

As Tsukimori made his way down the now busy hallways, he tried not to bump into the many high school students who stared up at him in awe. He held in a sigh when he heard girls "secretly" swooning over him.

"Omigod, I saw him on T.V.!"

"Really?" another one whispered. "Which channel? I wanna watch!"

Someone sighed. "He's such a _hottie-hot-hottie_."

"I hear that he's a _violinist_."

Tsukimori wanted to stop. To turn around and face whoever almost seemed to spit the last word that he'd heard as he walked down the hall. What was so wrong with being a violinist?

A student accidentally jostled him in the hall before he held out a steadying hand. "Oh, sorry, Mister!" he exclaimed before he bowed in apology and headed off.

The blue-haired man stared after him. Well, more like stared after the bag he had swung over his shoulder. That bag was too big to be a violin case (and besides, violin cases were _rectangular_) and too small to be a cello case. Tsukimori raised an eyebrow. '_A…._guitar?' He shook it off. There was just another added class that Kira thought was necessary to take. That was it; that was all. He tried not to stumble down the hall as he made his way to the class he was supposed to teach.

**.vvv.**

Already when he walked in, the whispers started. He stopped a smirk from gracing his lips. '_More people who know about me_…' Oh, joy. He stood in front of the class, his blue violin case set down by his side. "Good afternoon, students," he stated, raising his head with the formality in his voice. "My name is Tsukimori Len; you may call me Tsukimori-senpai, considering how I am not much older than most of you." He eyed the students' violins and cleared his throat. "I am here to teach you for the time being about the techniques that every violinist needs to know, music theory, and music history; hopefully we will be able to enjoy each other's presence." He walked over to the front of the room and pulled out the textbook that his had known in his time in high school, and he was about to order the students to open to a certain page when a student in the front raised his hand.

"Um, Tsukimori-senpai," stuttered the young man as he eyed the textbook in Tsukimori's hand, "Superintendent Kira doesn't require teachings from that textbook anymore."

The blue-haired senpai raised an eyebrow as he walked over to the younger student. "Show me your textbook, please, kouhai."

Hesitating a moment, the younger student nodded and quickly brought out the said textbook, placing it in front of his desk for Tsukimori to see, watching the blue-haired man as he studied the front cover.

'Essential Rock_, huh?_' Tsukimori thought as he turned the textbook around. '_Since when did Kira install a rock unit for violins?_'

"Um, Tsukimori-senpai?"

The blue-haired man snapped out of his reverie, finding himself staring down at the timid young man who had offered his textbook to him. "Ah," Tsukimori muttered, handing the textbook back to the kouhai. "My apologies." He was silent for a moment, taking in the information that had practically smacked him flat in the fact before he spoke again. "Actually, before we go to a lesson, would all of you mind playing something for me?" he asked, his gold eyes hardening as he hoped that what he was dealing with wasn't what he thought it was.

How dead wrong he really was.

When the students looked at each other and held the violins up to their necks, nodding to each other in order to start simultaneously, Tsukimori swore that he had felt some part of his face nearly fall to the floor. He stood; he waited; and he listened.

When it was all over, Tsukimori sat back, clutching the sides of the desk as support and knew that something was utterly wrong: the school, formerly full of classical music and music masters, was now flooded with alternative rock and modern tunes.

What the hell had just happened?

**.vvv.**

**Author's note:** Okay, so… this first chapter was a little slow, but it will sort of pick up later, when I have all of the plot sorted out. :D Len will meet Kahoko in the second chapter… and hopefully we'll see how that goes down.

So… **review, review, review**. That always makes me happy. :D Else if you don't, I'll cry and play a sad, depressing song on the smallest violin in the world. :D


	2. A Tempo

**Disclaimer: **It's a fanfiction; I don't own anything but my own ideas. :)

**Author's note:** Hey! So, I know it's been a year or more so since I've written for this, and I've managed to get a little bit of plot sorted out. I've been busy with other stories and driving and testing and prep for senior year, so please excuse me!

I've also changed how I've been calling the characters. I realized I've been calling them by their surnames this entire time! ^_^" Please excuse me for that as well. Only the other characters (unless they become more familiar with the others) will call each other by their surnames. I'll have the liberty of calling them by their first names.

Hope you enjoy chapter two~!

**Chapter II**

**A Tempo**

**.vvv.**

Len walked through the halls, barely seeing anything but the tops of his shoes. The entire class time, there was always some sort of problem…

Something among the lines of, _we don't use that anymore_ or _for guitars, we use these things called 'tabs'_ or _do we really have to learn about the musical time periods?_

Slight change his ass.

The students seemed already so modernized that they kept calling a bass a "big cello."

It shook his bones to no ends.

Len couldn't help but sigh. Thankfully, lunch and the free period were just around the corner. But, he told himself, he couldn't relax just yet. What was wrong with his old music school? How did it change so fast, and why after his moving to Germany? Was it just a coincidence? Or was it Kira's doing?

He walked in the direction of where he knew the old bulletin board was, quite familiar with it even years after that one music competition in which he had met all of his musical acquaintances…

… and _her_.

He shook his head, forcing him to concentrate on the task at hand. He had to find some clues as to what had happened—and what led to such a drastic change.

He reached the bulletin board in a matter of minutes. Roving his eyes over the newspaper articles, he saw at a quick glance the weekly gossip (he scoffed and rolled his eyes), a news article of a sort of musical band he was quite unfamiliar with, and a couple of flyers signaling an upcoming music competition.

A _modern_ music competition.

Len swallowed when he saw the words above in large, proud letters on several posters. His worries deepened when he didn't see something he _should_ have seen at a prominent music school.

Where was an article of _him_?

Now, he didn't want to sound arrogant—despite all those labeling him as such—but at any music school around the world, he could be that _somewhere_, _somehow_, and _some_why, there would be a picture and an article dedicated to him. He had seen his concerts on televisions (despite his grimaces every time his music professor showed them to him), seen word of them in papers, and even gotten fan mail. Things just seemed to get fishier by the minute.

Not to mention that it hurt him to see the era of baroque, classical, and romantic music fading away in such a short span of time…

Len didn't notice how tightly his fists were clenched around the handle of his violin case.

He needed some air, he decided, pivoting away from the bulletin board, trying to hide the disgusted grimace on his face. He knew just the place, a place where he would always go to practice whenever he wanted to be alone and just drown himself in his own music. He needed the loneliness, the awareness of his music.

Perhaps he could even get to hear _hers_.

He pushed the door open, preparing to set his case down on the normally empty bench on the school rooftop—

"Len-kun?"

—only to be met with the sight of a very familiar, red-headed girl and her violin.

He froze when he saw her there, and his face softened. "Kahoko," he said in return, approaching her in calm, reassured steps before he stopped before her, merely a foot away.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. They only stared at each other, sometimes into each other's eyes or around each other's face or just the other person entirely, taking them in as if they were looking at one another's portrait.

Kahoko knew _she_ could hardly breathe. "You're back," she said, trying not to stutter. "Right?"

She watched as Len inhaled slowly before exhaling twice as slowly. "Yes, but only for volunteer hours. My professor's gone crazy and demanded I return to 'save the world from musical devastation.'"

He had expected Kahoko to laugh and shake her head, but she only gave him a half-hearted smile. "I see." She lowered her head. She hadn't bothered to lower her violin from her chin, still holding it as if she were about to play a song.

It was something Len longed for the most, to hear her intriguing sound and to make all of his frustrations at this academy and his frustrations at his professor go away. But he stiffened when he noticed something: Kahoko wasn't holding her violin right. The bow was awkwardly placed in her right hand, her chin resting a little too low upon the chin rest, and her fingers on the neck were placed too high. Her shoulders were too stiff, her elbows, too angled. A thought ran struck him, and it made his blood run cold.

"Have you been practicing, Kahoko?" Len asked, prodding a little.

Kahoko kept her gaze on the ground. The laugh that came out of her didn't seem to be like her. "Not as much as I'd like to."

"What does that mean?"

She raised her head to look at him, giving him another half-smile. It bothered him to no end. "How has Germany been, Len-kun?" She brought her violin down from her chin and let her bow hand from her hand, her thumb idly stroking the neck of the instrument.

Len was unsettled by the swift change in subject. "Fine."

"That's good." Another bout of silence. "I would have written to you, but school was very busy for me."

Len tried to jump back in on topic. "Have you been able to get into a music subject?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. Kira-san put me on the waiting list for a while, so I'm still stuck as a gen ed student." She gave a slightly bigger smile. "Which is fine. I mean, I'm sure I'm not very good at the violin anyway."

"No, you aren't." It was said without a smile and without tact, but it still got a laugh from her. He felt his insides tingle a little. It made him soften—just a little. "But," he said quietly as he stared down at her, "you have one of the most intriguing sounds I've ever heard."

The face she gave him reminded him of the time she wished him well for his studying abroad in Europe. There was a smile, the crinkle of eyes—but there was also a teary substance clinging to the corner of her lashes, desperately wanting to hold on so that it wouldn't look as if she were crying. As if she had noticed him staring at her watery eyes, she lowered them, walked toward her violin case and placed it inside. "Thank you, Len-kun."

She looked up from the violin case, the tears in her eyes gone. "Ano… don't you want to catch up with the others? I'm sure Tsuchiura-kun wouldn't mind seeing you again." She held back a giggle when she saw him scowl, quite unhappy with the prospect of seeing his old "rival."

Len sighed. "I suppose," he said, too reluctant to leave her so soon after such a long time. "I'll see you later then, Kahoko."

The smile never left her face; just up until he had closed the door behind her did it fall from her face like a mask. She stared down at her violin, brushing the neck with a ghost of her fingers. "I'm sorry, Tsukimori-kun. I don't know if I can play it anymore." With all her emotional strength gone, she found the courage to let the tears in her eyes go.

**.vvv.**

"Tsukimori-kun?"

Len glanced over his shoulder as a head of green made its way toward him. "Hihara-senpai," he said in greeting to the trumpet major he knew was close to Kahoko. Out of formality, he added, "How have you been?"

"Could be worse." Kazuki scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. "I heard you were back as a volunteer teacher to the students! So what do you make of the school?"

What did he _think_ of it? Len wanted to _scream_ at it before he even _thought_ of it. It was infuriating how much it had changed, how everyone looked at him, how the faces changed. This school had been a part of his world in high school, and as he opened up, he had allowed himself to be a part of it. Now, the only remainder of the classical music sector of the music department was held in a dingy band room, and even _they_ learned more modern music than classical music. He wanted to strangle his professor for sending him back, Kira for being such an arrogant bastard, and the flight attendant for even graciously bowing before letting him off the train. He felt humiliated and angry, and with this sight before him, he felt he had a right to hold those disturbing emotions inside of him.

But he didn't tell Kazuki that. Instead, as he kept himself cool and collected as always, he merely said, "It could be worse."

Kazuki gave him a cheery laugh. "Cheer up, Tsukimori-kun! I'm sure teaching with a new music style is hard, but music is music!"

Len stiffened at his words, but Kazuki gave no notice.

He grinned. "No matter how it changes, music will always help us express ourselves; it's okay to have a favorite, even if it changes. There are people who still love your music—"

Kazuki stopped himself and laughed again. "Ah, _sumimasen_, Tsukimori-kun! I got a little preachy there. Please excuse me. I hope I didn't offend you in any way."

"_Iie_, Hihara-senpai."

The sheepish grin was back on his face. "I'm glad. Sorry again!"

He stepped past him, turning silent again as he tacitly bid Kazuki good-bye to head off to his next class. When he was out of earshot, Len didn't realize a ghost of a smile playing upon his lips.

**.vvv.**

Kahoko watched her kouhais work on their music theory from her desk, her chin upon her palm.

**.vvv.**

It was in the middle of Len's second class when the office called for him through the school speakers.

"Tsukimori Len-kun, please report to the office immediately. A substitute will be provided for your class."

Len stifled a sigh; he apologized to the kouhai who, before the inconvenient calling, was just learning the notes of her violin, and he headed out the door, nodded to a young man who looked like Ousaki-senpai with black hair who bowed to him. Upon reaching the office door, he knocked.

"Please come in, Tsukimori," said the voice of the school director through the door. "The rest of us have been waiting for you."

The rest of them…?

Len pushed open the door, nodding politely to the director when he stiffened at the sight of the group before him.

There, in the office, was the entire group who had performed in the same music competition as Len did. He recognized Kazuki and Azuma standing together, chatting quietly and casually, still as close as friends could be. Shifting his eyes over, he realized the quiet couple in the corner to be Keiichi and the timid girl next to him—an oboist? A clarinetist?—as Fuyuumi. His eyes hardened, and he forced himself not to scowl when he saw Ryotaro with Kahoko. Even Kanazawa was present.

Kira cleared his throat. "Now then," he said, not noticing the tension coming from Len, "now that we're all here, I'll simply get straight to the point. I want you all in another performance."

A mixture of confused gasps and exasperated sighs burst around the room.

Kira continued as if none of the responses had ever happened. "It's simply a way to push the students into thinking about a musical career, and," he said, his face not hitching the slightest, "to perhaps persuade some well-to-do musicians into giving a small donation, seeing how the school system's monetary system has been drained.

"With that said, I want you to continuing playing as you are. Please choose individual pieces for each of the three selections, and then come together for a grand finale. Kanazawa-sensei will provide a theme for each selection. Keep in mind that in order to attract well-known musicians, you must keep this as modern as possible." His eyes seemed to flicker around to all of them. "Please refrain from choosing cliché, overdone songs from the classical era. You may work in groups."

He clapped his hands. "All right then. That is all. You may continue as you were."

The group before him disassembled before he could even spin around in his swivel chair.

**.vvv.**

Kahoko returned to her seat upon the school roof, completely horrified. They had to play in another competition—for entertainment and for advertising purposes. She slumped in her seat. After all of her attempt at trying to hide it from Len and from the others, she couldn't anymore. If she chose to sing in the competition, they'd all question her about it, ask why she wasn't playing her violin and instead was choosing the sad part as "vocals" in the competition.

She buried her face in her knees and forearms, curling up into a ball. "I don't know what to do. I want to play the violin, I want to hear the sound of it again after so long, but I can't." She groaned and let out a sputter of God-knows-what. "Len'll hate me forever."

"That's really pathetic, Hino. I never would have thought that you were the type to be wallowing in your own puddle of self-misery."

She huffed and turned around. "It's not like I want to, Yunoki-senpai."

Azuma leaned against the metal bars of the balcony, his long, almost purple hair whipping around in the wind, locks of it slapping against his white uniform blazer. His golden eyes glinted mischievously as he stared down at her. "What's wrong? I thought that when Tsukimori got back, you'd be Little Miss Sunshine."

She stared back down at her feet, her eyebrows knitting together in frustration. "I… I know I should be happy that he's back, it's just…" She fidgeted with her fingers. "… everything's just changed now. I can't play anymore and…"

She laughed, a little bitter in her sound. "Well, if Len found out about the fact that I couldn't play anymore after I promised him that I'd never give up violin, it's just like giving him something else to be annoyed about, right?" She turned to Azuma and gave a sort of sheepish grin.

Azuma merely sighed. "I'm not here for your self-reassurance, Hino." Then he smiled. "But I'm sure you knew that I wasn't going to give you any warm-fuzzies, right?"

He turned to lean against the metal bars with his arms. "I'm sure Tsukimori is going through his own fears and frustrations, just as you are, with the changes he's seen at this school. We've all had the chance to change and adapt with the school, but Tsukimori's the only one who's had the chance to see such an abrupt change. I'll bet he'd be mad with anything at this point."

Kahoko had to chuckle at that, given Len's sharp temper and lack of tact despite his cool façade. "I guess."

Azuma was silent for a while. The only sound that came from him was the whip of his hair in the wind. "Besides," he said, "everything changes and evolves. But only the best and the legends will remain. We all change, Hino. He'll just have to accept that."

Kahoko smiled at the ground before she stiffened at the sound of something. She pushed herself to her feet and rushed to the spot next to Azuma, listening hard. Her ears perked. "Oh!" She pushed herself away from the metal bars. "It's Len."

"Already practicing for the competition, I see…"

Kahoko smiled as she stared out at the school yard. "That's just like him."

"You should go see him again." The smirk in Azuma's voice didn't go unnoticed.

She jerked her head in Azuma's direction. "E-Eh?"

"Don't play coy, Kahoko." He winked at her. "I can't stand it when you play coy."

"… Alright then, I'm out of here." Before she left him alone on the school rooftop, she turned, looked over her shoulder, and smiled. "Thanks, Yunoki-senpai."

When the door shut with a _click_! behind her, Azuma sighed and shook his head. "Those two are definitely in denial."

**.vvv.**

_**author's note:**_ things are moving pretty fast now. o_o

.::: A musical competition's coming up, change has been happening, and what's this? A school financial crisis? Will Len and Kahoko manage to be able to bond through all this, or will they continue to stay, as Azuma says, as lovers in denial?

What's more, will Kahoko be able to keep her secret from Len? Find out in our next installment of _Fortissimo!_


End file.
